Kazakhstan puts focus on renewable energy

Kazakhstan wants renewable energy (RE) to reach 50% of its energy mix by 2050, with intermediate targets of 3% (or new 2,000 MW investment) by 2020 and 10% by 2030. Mr. Kanat Bozumbayev, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, pointed out yesterday that one of the main instruments to attract the required investments will be the RE Auctions Mechanism to be launched in May 2018.

The minister was speaking at the opening of the Renewable Energy Policy Hard Talk, a high-level policy dialogue on Renewable Energy Investment organized by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the support of UNECE, the European Commission and USAID (Astana, 26-27 April 2018). The event gathered a broad range of stakeholders, including policy-makers, public administrations, private developers and investors, financial institutions, donors, experts and civil society representatives to discuss the opportunities and challenges of renewable energy investment in Kazakhstan.

Participants agreed on the multiple benefits of renewable energy in terms of energy security, economic development and protection of the environment. They also identified several barriers that are still faced by investors as well as best practice policies and tools to overcome them.

To further foster the deployment of RE in Kazakhstan, a set of priority actions have been proposed as outcome of this two-day Hard Talk.

As follow-up, Kazakhstan may receive support to reach their renewable energy objectives by the European Commission which can mobilise upon request specific technical assistance under the EU Technical Assistance Facility for Sustainable Energy.

Note to editors

In support to the achievement of the energy-related Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG7 and based on key findings from the REN21 UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report 2017, Hard Talks bring together major players in the energy field from public and private sector to discuss key issues, identify priorities and propose concrete recommendations for policy changes needed to overcome policy, legal, regulatory, technical barriers and take advantage of untapped renewable energy potential.

This was the fourth of a series of Renewable Energy Hard Talks promoted by UNECE (Georgia and Ukraine in 2016 and in Azerbaijan in 2017).